Steelers Could Have To Wait A Little Longer To Get David DeCastro Signed

Monday, May 14th, 2012 by Dave Bryan

The Pittsburgh Steelers have signed seven of their nine draft picks thus far and while their third round pick, linebacker Sean Spence, is expected to sign sometime this week or next, it could end up being a little longer before first round pick David DeCastro is under contract.

According to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, the hold up is likely because of a wait to see which team draws the line in the sand first in regard to fully four-year fully guaranteed contracts for the players drafted near the end of round one.

As Florio points out, last year the first 20 picks received four-year, fully-guaranteed contracts and Indianapolis Colts lineman Anthony Castonzo, who was drafted 22nd overall, had three of the four years guaranteed of his rookie deal. Cleveland Browns defensive tackle Phil Taylor, the 21st overall selection last year, came to terms on a deal that made more than half of his fourth-year base salary guaranteed, with the remaining balance shifted to a roster bonus due on the first day of the 2014 League Year.

Agents are doing their best to try to pull the four-year guarantee line deeper into round one now. Last week the Chicago Bears signed Shea McClellin, the 19th overall pick, to a fully guaranteed deal and next up are the Tennessee Titans and Kendall Wright, the 20th overall selection. Wright is expected to also get a fully guaranteed deal and the onus will then be on the New England Patriots to draw the line in the sand with the deal that they try to get done with their first round pick, Chandler Jones.

Should Jones and his agent succeed at getting a fully guaranteed deal, the buck will continue to pass down to the next pick and so on until a team decides to play hard ball and draw the line between three and four year guaranteed deals.

As a comparison, Cameron Jordan, who was the 24th overall selection last year by the New Orleans Saints, received a four-year $7.73 million contract of which just three years were guaranteed. That deal included a $4.12 million signing bonus. It figures that DeCastro will receive a deal very close to that of Jordan and it should only have three years guaranteed as well. Until DeCastro is boxed out of a four-year guarantee though by a contract ahead of him, he will likely remain unsigned.

Despite the delays, DeCastro should be signed well before training camp gets underway.

With an unprecedented number of draft picks signing contracts early, thanks to a CBA that makes it more formulaic than ever to work out the details of deals, it would be easy to assume that the momentum will continue until all of the deals are done, perhaps by Memorial Day.

It would be easy, but it very well could be wrong.

Though there’s not all that much to negotiate when it comes to first-round contracts, one potential sticking point comes from the extent to which the money is fully guaranteed for all four years. In 2011, the first 20 picks received four-year, fully-guaranteed contracts. Three-year guarantees applied as of the 22nd pick, Colts lineman Anthony Castonzo.

At pick 21, the Browns and defensive lineman Phil Taylor worked out a compromise that would make his fourth-year income guaranteed or put him on the open market early in the league year, giving him an extended opportunity to make the money with a new team.

In 2012, picks in the range of 21 to 25 could take some extra time, as agents try to pull the four-year guarantee deeper into the round — or, at a minimum, to slide the formula that the Browns used when negotiating Taylor’s deal to lower selections.

Making things even more interesting is the fact that the Patriots, who have been known to drive a hard bargain with first-round picks (just ask Ben Watson), hold spot No. 21, for which they traded up used to select defensive end Chandler Jones. Also, the Browns devoted pick No. 22 to a quarterback, Brandon Weeden, who may be able to get the same deal one spot lower that Taylor got last year with the 21st pick, especially by pointing to the loose notion that quarterbacks deserve a better deal that non-quarterbacks taken at the same spot.

Then the question becomes whether the players taken with picks 23 (Riley Reiff of the Lions), 24 (David DeCastro of the Steelers), and 25 (Dont’a Hightower of the Patriots) will be able to yank the Taylor/Weeden formula deeper into the round.

Chances are the Patriots won’t go for it at No. 25, which would set the floor on the three-year guarantee. That leaves Reiff and DeCastro to possibly wait it out. Possibly past the Fourth of July.

I would love to see these two get under contract but I can see where we may have to wait for Decastro. Hopefully it will be soon and we will get ready for training camp.

Kingmagyar

05-15-2012, 04:48 PM

There is no way, no way Decastro misses a day of training camp over the final year being guaranteed or not. If there is a team that will set the cutoff it is the Steelers at 24. Besides does Decastro think he's so bad he will never see year 4 money? It won't be guaranteed in writing but it's as close to a guarantee as there is.

lipps83

05-15-2012, 06:24 PM

Offer the guy a 60 million life-time contract and be done with it.

Don't risk losing this one.

Steelersfan87

05-15-2012, 07:42 PM

They can't do that. Rookie contracts are slotted within a designated range.

vindrow

05-15-2012, 08:38 PM

This article lost all credibility when I saw that it was written by Florio.

Fire Arians

05-16-2012, 12:18 AM

they will get it done, im not worried in the slightest.

Hawaii 5-0

05-17-2012, 02:58 PM

THURSDAY, 17 MAY 2012

WRITTEN BY ED BOUCHETTE

Here are the rookie contracts of our seven draft choices signed so far:

I posted recently about what likely was the hold up on the Pittsburgh Steelers getting first round draft pick David DeCastro under contract. Now it seems like the logjam ahead of DeCastro is starting to move thanks to the New England Patriots drawing the line in the sand this past week with their first round pick Chandler Jones, the 21st overall selection this past April.

Jones deal was for the mandated four-years, but only three years of it is fully guaranteed & only $752,284 of his final year. The theory is that DeCastro and his agent were waiting to see just how far down the four year guaranteed deals fell, and with Jones being selected three picks ahead of DeCastro, there will not be much left to haggle over. This means the Stanford guard should be under contract soon thanks to the slotting system,.

DeCastro is not able top take part in any of the Steelers OTA sessions or June mini-camp because of the graduation rules at Stanford. Those rules did allow him to take part in the rookie camp though immediately following the draft.

The Steelers currently have seven of their nine draft picks currently under contract with only DeCastro and third round pick Sean Spence yet to sign. There is no word what the holdup might be with Spence, but both certainly should have their deals wrapped up soon.